Do It, Do It Boldly, And Do It Now

Ask Yourself: Am I In Earnest​

To be bold, as all eartHearts will need to be, one has to be willing to be courageous, innovative, and confident. Boldness is the opposite of fearfulnes. It is not a common quality because one has to overcome the risk of failure and face the risk of being considered insolent. Bold people are often thought to be this way because, in the course of being earnest, they tend to push too hard against commonplace standards. In doing so, they naturally rub up against the boundaries of proper etiquette and politeness. Despite the occasional criticism for being inappropriate, eartHearts who are bold are admired for both getting things done and instigating growth, progress and movement for themselves and others.

Goethe says: “Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” True enough, as you will discover when you overcome procrastination. I ask you: “Are you in earnest? Your answer needs to be “yes!” I plead with you to “seize this very day.” You do not have to have all the steps figured out in advance. Just start. Goethe says: “Only engage, and then the mind grows heated—Begin it, and then the work will be completed.” Write down ten things you have been putting off. Despite any feelings of resistance, begin at least one of them now. Then begin each of the remaining nine items on each of the nine consecutive days. If this doesn’t make you bold enough do not wait around for a bold person to provide the leadership. Here are some things you can do to be bold and earnest right now:

They know their own flaws and strengths.

They keep clear priorities so that you can seize opportunities.

They say what needs to be said.

They do their homework so that they can couple their knowledge with their action and lead their team.

They learn from their mistakes by allowing failure to be an acceptable part of the process.

They make the most of any given circumstances and they celebrate every small accomplishment as a stepping-stone to eventual victory.

They build momentum by crafting their plan so that every step leads to the next positive step. And

They assess themselves by constantly reviewing their answers to kinds of questions posed the following activity.

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To Being Bold …​

​HumaNatureConnect Activity​

If this is not a day when you prefer to spend time in nature without an agenda, do the following activity:​​​

Start-up Protocol​

Read The Text— Use your literary sense, your mind sense, and your reason sense to read your way towards happiness and sustainability but do not just be an arm-chair traveler. Use your other natural senses as you also spend healthful, fun, and productive time in nature on your way to Gladandgreen Junction.

Attractive Natural Being— With pen and journal in hand, go to a natural area and look around to find a natural being that is attractive to you.

Appreciation and Gratefulness— While admiring your chosen being, appreciate it with your inhalations and give it gratitude with your exhalations.

Consent— Once you find an aspect of nature that is attractive to you continuously for at least ten seconds, think of your continued attraction as your consent to have a connection experience that will lead to your optimal functioning.

The Natural Senses— After gaining consent to enter into a connection experience with the natural being, have available the list of Natural Senses. Mix it up by using at least one radiation sense, one feeling sense, one chemical sense, and one mental sense, to widen your perception, and add variety to your experience.

HumaNatureConnect Activity — After reading the text, finding a natural being, appreciating it, gaining its consent, and scanning the list of natural senses, use your heightened awareness and nature-induced optimal functioning to do the following activity and engage in as many follow-up components as you see fit.

Being Bold​

Begin by examining the illusions you hold inside and consider the ways you change reality around you. The illusion to examine is not a delusion--the latter being a false image that prevents you from seeing the reality around you. A bold person, knowing that everything is an illusion, works to create themselves and their worlds according to the way they think and feel. In doing so, bold people endorse what Shakespeare says: “Nothing is but thinking makes it so.” With these thoughts in mind, ask the following questions to your chosen natural object but do not expect to be able to answer the questions immediately. Just ask for permission to ponder these questions onsite in nature; immerse yourself in the qualities of the natural being and its natural surroundings; use one or more of your natural senses; think of your chosen being as an emissary carrying the wisdom of nature to you after granting you its consent to have this connection experience by remaining attractive; resonate with the underlying tone or rhythm you feel in your heart as you sit, stand, or lie next to your chosen natural being; allow the questions to be processed (answered) in the natural realm of your unconscious mind overnight; after a night’s dream-filled sleep, return to this activity and write out your answers. Doing so allows the intelligence of nature to silently (and perhaps in your dreams) work its magic on you so that you can then write out answers that are not tainted by fluctuating social pressures or willy-nilly moods. The following questions are inspired by a book written by Christine Comaford-Lynch (2007):

What message about my boldness am I projecting through my self-image to others?

Do I feel powerful?

What do I have to do to change my self-image regarding boldness?

Do I get things done? If not, do I do any of the following to maximize forward motion efficiently: stop blaming others, write out your goals, solicit support, remove toxic influences such as alcohol or people who bring you down, use only talk (to yourself and others), focus on what you want to become, begin again intelligently after learning from failure, focus on details yet also scan the surroundings, and give yourself appropriate rewards?

Do I overcome rejection by remembering that “some will, some won’t, so what? Someone is waiting.”

Do I remember that, no matter how late, I can still make a difference?

Do I convert in my mind the answer of “no” to “maybe?”

Do I avoid trying to change others?

Do I do volunteer work as a way to overcome negativity and to raise hope?

Do I periodically make a list of my own positive qualities?

Do I mentally equalize myself with others, thinking that everyone has the same measure of self-worth?

Do I constantly build my network by talking with people, making new friends, and offering compliments to strangers?

To see what conversations you can inspire, share your photos and impressions about anything pertaining to your journey down the Heartwood Path on your Facebook page, on Instagram, and on other social media accounts. If you like, include “#heartwoodpath” and “#waypoint(insert waypoint number here)” wherever pertinent

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Your input is vital. Enjoy sharing!

Heartwood Path Axioms:Key Assertions From Waypoint 1.108

1.108.1.I Ask yourself: “Am I in earnest?

1.108.2.Goethe says: “Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

1.108.3.Goethe says: “Only engage, and then the mind grows heated—Begin it, and then the work will be completed.”

1.108.4.Write down ten things you have been putting off; and, despite any feelings of resistance, begin at least one of them now.

1.108.5.Seize this very day, even if you do not have everything figured out.

Nocturnal Pilgrimage 1.108:Tend To Your Dreams Before Heading To The Next Waypoint

Go over what you learned about being bold before you prepare for sleep. Dream. Tend to your dreams. Continue on your way to the Gladandgreen Junction. When ready, move to the next waypoint: “Prophets Of Change.”